This psalm is evidently intended for liturgic use.
It contains reminiscences of many parts of Scripture,
and is especially based on the previous psalm,
which it follows closely in vv. 10-18, and quotes
directly in vv. 19-22. Delitzsch points out that if
these quoted verses are omitted, the psalm falls into
triplets. It would then also contain twenty-two verses,
corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew
alphabet. The general trend of thought is like that
of Psalm cxxxv.; but the addition in each verse of the
refrain gives a noble swing and force to this exulting
song.

The first triplet is a general invocation to praise,
coloured by the phraseology of Deuteronomy. Vv. 2a
and 3a quote Deut. x. 17. The second and third
triplets (vv. 4-9) celebrate Jehovah's creative power.
"Doeth great wonders" (ver. 4) is from Psalm lxxii. 18.368
The thought of the Divine Wisdom as the creative
agent occurs in Psalm civ. 24, and attains noble expression
in Prov. iii. In ver. 6 the word rendered spread is
from the same root as that rendered "firmament" in
Genesis. The office of the heavenly bodies to rule day
and night is taken from Gen. i. But the psalm looks
at the story of Creation from an original point of view,
when it rolls out in chorus, after each stage of that
work, that its motive lay in the eternal loving-kindness
of Jehovah. Creation is an act of Divine love. That
is the deepest truth concerning all things visible.
They are the witnesses, as they are the result, of
loving-kindness which endures for ever.

Vv. 10-22 pass from world-wide manifestations of
that creative loving-kindness to those specially affecting
Israel. If vv. 19-22 are left out of notice, there are
three triplets in which the Exodus, desert life, and conquest
of Canaan are the themes,—the first (vv. 10-12)
recounting the departure; the second (vv. 13-15) the
passage of the Red Sea; the third (vv. 16-18) the
guidance during the forty years and the victories
over enemies. The whole is largely taken from the
preceding psalm, and has also numerous allusions to
other parts of Scripture. Ver. 12a is found in
Deut. iv. 34, etc. The word for dividing the Red Sea
is peculiar. It means to hew in pieces or in two, and
is used for cutting in halves the child in Solomon's
judgment (1 Kings iii. 25); while the word "parts" is
a noun from the same root, and is found in Gen. xv. 17,
to describe the two portions into which Abraham clave
the carcasses. Thus, as with a sword, Jehovah hewed
the sea in two, and His people passed between the
parts, as between the halves of the covenant sacrifice.
In ver. 15 the word describing Pharaoh's destruction369
is taken from Exod. xiv. 27, and vividly describes it
as a "shaking out," as one would vermin or filth from
a robe.

In the last triplet (vv. 23-25) the singer comes to
the Israel of the present. It, too, had experienced
Jehovah's remembrance in its time of need, and felt
the merciful grasp of His hand plucking it, with loving
violence, from the claws of the lion. The word for
"low estate" and that for "tore us from the grasp"
are only found besides in late writings—the former
in Eccles. x. 6, and the latter in Lam. v. 8.

But the song will not close with reference only to
Israel's blessings. "He gives bread to all flesh."
The loving-kindness which flashes forth even in
destructive acts, and is manifested especially in bringing
Israel back from exile, stretches as wide in its
beneficence as it did in its first creative acts, and
sustains all flesh which it has made. Therefore the
final call to praise, which rounds off the psalm by
echoing its beginning, does not name Him by the
Name which implied Israel's special relation, but by
that by which other peoples could and did address
Him, "the God of heaven," from whom all good comes
down on all the earth.